CHAPEL HILL — It was just months after North Carolina’s splashy hire of NFL coaching legend Bill Belichick in late 2024 — and before he’d coached a single snap — that the Tar Heels’ 2026 game against TCU was moved to Ireland to kick off the college football season.
It was precisely the type of national spotlight and attention the university was looking for in choosing Belichick, who won six Super Bowl titles as head coach of the NFL’s New England Patriots.
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The spotlight Belichick brought to the program is significantly harsher than anticipated and the attention has often focused on everything but the Tar Heels’ play on the field.
As Belichick enters season two in Chapel Hill, the pressure, however, has increased after a dismal 4-8 season in his debut, during which the Tar Heels. suffered an embarrassing debut loss to TCU, the first of four three-score losses, and dealt with equally disastrous off-the-field headlines.
Belichick, 74, restocked the roster with freshmen, remade the quarterback room and revamped his offensive coaching staff in the offseason.
Is it enough to turn this grand experiment into a success, particularly against a schedule that appears much more difficult than last season?
“Our focus is TCU,” Belichick said. “We’re not worried about games in November, December, October, whenever they are. When we get to them, we get to them. Right now, we’re focused on TCU and getting ready for the game. Prepare as well as possible. Go out there and play to our maximum potential. And when that game’s over, then we’ll turn the page and move onto the next opponent. That’s what we do every week all year long. I don’t know any other way.”
The Tar Heels haven’t been able to avoid off-field issues. North Carolina enters the season opener without its general manager Michael Lombardi, who is on paid administrative leave amid an internal investigation, and defensive coordinator Steve Belichick, who is on medical leave.
Bill Belichick signed a five-year, $50-million contract, but only the first three seasons were guaranteed.
“We’re optimistic about where we’re going,” UNC athletics director Steve Newmark told WRAL in April. “I like the way that they’re trying to build it. We understand we’re in a performance-based sport. Coach Belichick would be the first to say that. But we feel like we’re on the right trajectory. We need to continue to show what Coach Belichick continually refers to as continuous improvement.”
North Carolina vs. TCU
Records: UNC (4-8 last season); TCU (9-4 last season)
What: Aer Lingus College Football Classic
Where: Aviva Stadium (capacity 51,711), Dublin, Ireland
When: Noon, Saturday, Aug. 29
TV: ESPN (Mike Monaco, Jordan Rodgers, Dana Boyle)
Radio: Tar Heels Sports Radio Network
More time together
The NCAA did away with its post-spring practice transfer portal, allowing for far greater roster continuity for teams across the country. North Carolina stands to benefit. The Tar Heels hastily constructed 2025 roster didn’t have enough players or knowledge of the team’s schemes to hold player-run practices in the summer, Belichick said, a major impediment.
Outside of a handful of players who joined the team the summer, the bulk of this year’s squad has been together since January.
“I feel like this team is a lot closer because we had so much more time together,” said wide receiver Jordan Shipp, a team captain. “We had a good seven months together, just to keep growing as a brotherhood and continue to keep setting our standard higher and higher.”
Youth movement
Those months of development could be particularly important for the team’s 40 true freshmen. Belichick and Lombardi committed to the youth movement at a time when college teams are getting older, investing in a deep recruiting class. UNC has 17 redshirt freshmen, four sophomores and 15 redshirt sophomores.
How many of the true freshmen are capable of producing right away — or throughout the course of a long college season — is a “big unknown,” Belichick said.
“Some of those guys have put themselves into playing time,” he said. “They’ve earned some playing time. How much will obviously be dependent on how they do with the playing time that they get.”
UNC didn’t release a depth chart for its season opener.
Offensive improvement
The Tar Heels did announce their starting quarterback — sixth-year transfer Billy Edwards Jr.
Edwards is part of a new-look quarterback room under new offensive coordinator Bobby Petrino. Three of the team’s top quarterbacks in 2025 transferred out of the program: Gio Lopez (to Wake Forest), Max Johnson (to Georgia Southern) and Bryce Baker (to Virginia Tech). Lopez and Johnson were tabbed to start at their new schools.
In their place, the Tar Heels added Edwards (from Wisconsin), Miles O’Neill (from Texas A&M) and freshman Travis Burgess. Edwards started at Maryland in 2024 and opened 2025 as Wisconsin’s starting quarterback before suffering a season-ending knee injury. He earned the starting job with his experience, consistency and an ability to avoid negative plays.
“The only way we can go forward is by not going backwards,” Edwards said. “Just really eliminating the negative plays, just trying to consistently put us in the best looks possible, whether it’s check runs or getting us out of a play.”
That’s precisely what Belichick wants to see, particularly against TCU, which scored 14 points off UNC offensive turnovers in last year’s 48-14 beatdown in Chapel Hill.
“Not to beat ourselves,” Belichick said.
Petrino, who has produced explosive offenses at nearly every stop in his long career, is tasked with elevating the unit, which ranked near the bottom of the ACC and the Football Bowl Subdivision in most major categories last season. UNC was last in the ACC in total offense, next-to-last in passing offense and scoring offense and 14th in the 17-team league in rushing offense. The Tar Heels were 13th in third-down offense and 16th in red-zone offense.
UNC returns its top two rushers from last season in Demon June (464 yards, 5.5 yards per carry) and Benjamin Hall (274 yards, 3.9 per carry) and its top receiver in Shipp (671 yards, six touchdowns).
Coordinating the defense
Without Steve Belichick, Bill Belichick could take a bigger role in calling defensive plays. Belichick won two Super Bowl titles as the defensive coordinator of the New York Giants and was known as one of the top defensive minds in football.
“As head coach, I’ve called plays on offense, defense and in the kicking game,” he said. “We have a really good staff. I have a lot of confidence in them. But if I need to do anything, I feel confident in doing it.”
The Tar Heels produced an average defense last year, ranking right in the middle of the ACC in most defensive categories.
Defensive end Melkart Abou Jaoude led the team with 10.5 sacks and 12 tackles for loss last season and is back. The Tar Heels rebuilt their linebacking corps with transfers Derek McDonald (Syracuse) and Peyton Seelman (Richmond). Senior Kaleb Cost and junior Jaiden Patterson are expected to play big roles in the secondary.
They’ll face a tough challenge in the opener.
TCU starter Jaden Craig played the past three seasons at Harvard, throwing for 6,074 yards and 52 touchdowns. In 2024 and 2025, as the starting quarterback, he tossed 48 touchdowns and 10 interceptions, while completing more than 60 percent of his passes.
“An impressive player,” Belichick said. “Big, strong kid. Can run well. He’s athletic, good arm. He can make all the throws. He can definitely get the ball down the field. He’s 225, 230 pounds, whatever he is. Runs well. So he’s a problem with the ball in his hands, too.”
Kicking question
Rece Verhoff, the team’s top kicker in 2025, is eligible to practice with the team, but cannot play as the NCAA fights legal challenges to its eligibility rules. An earlier federal court ruling opened the door for Verhoff to play an additional season, but that decision has been put on hold.
The other two kickers on the roster are Aeron Burrell, a transfer from LSU, and freshman David Green. Neither has attempted a kick in college, though Burrell was LSU’s kickoff specialist the last two seasons.
